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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  2. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  3. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  4. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  5. Have you met the new head ________________?
  6. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  7. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  8. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  9. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. My father caught me by the ________________.
  13. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  18. I'll be taking the ________________.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  24. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. tube — a container
  3. chair — a professorship
  4. wind — moving air
  5. coach — a trainer
  6. tube — in a tire
  7. drill — army training
  8. drill — the tool
  9. drill — a practice
  10. wound — an injury
  11. spring — the season
  12. arm — part of the body
  13. chair — to sit on
  14. wind — moving air
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. spring — a coil
  17. arm — a part of something
  18. tube — the underground
  19. wound — an injury
  20. coach — pulled by horses
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. spring — of water
  23. arm — part of the body
  24. coach — a trainer

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com